Figure 3

Loss of IL-17 reduces chemoattractants and proinflammatory cytokines with diminished apoptosis.

(A) Decrease in specific chemoattractants and cytokines in males and females. Sera of four mouse strains (B6 F, n = 5; B6 M, n = 5; B6.Il17^−/− F, n = 3; B6.Il17^−/− M, n = 5; B6.NOD-Aec1Aec2 F, n = 14; B6.NOD-Aec1Aec2 M, n = 4; B6.NOD-Aec1Aec2.Il17^−/− F, n = 5; B6.NOD-Aec1Aec2.Il17^−/− M, n = 5) were collected at 30 ± 4 weeks of age. The levels of chemokines and cytokines were determined using mouse Biorad Bio-Plex cytokine kit. The statistical significance was calculated by one-tailed Mann-Whitney tests where error bars indicate SEM with NS: not significant, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01. (B) The pronounced effect of IL-17 in females during the late stage of apoptosis. Apoptosis was determined using TUNEL assay in which salivary glands were digested with Proteinase K, incubated with TdT, biotin-16-dUTP stained with streptavidin-AF647 and DAPI nuclei staining. Negative control was not incubated with TdT and positive control was treated with DNase I prior to incubation with TdT. (B6 F, n = 5; B6 M, n = 4; B6.Il17^−/− F, n = 5; B6.Il17^−/− M, n = 5; B6.NOD-Aec1Aec2 F, n = 9; B6.NOD-Aec1Aec2 M, n = 5; B6.NOD-Aec1Aec2.Il17^−/− F, n = 3; B6.NOD-Aec1Aec2.Il17^−/− M, n = 4). (C) Area of apoptosis is quantified using Nikon Element software. The statistical significance was calculated using one-tailed Mann-Whitney tests where error bars indicate SEM *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01. Representative images were presented at 400x magnification.